Enzo Maresca has revealed he held heart-to-heart conversations with Phil Foden to help the midfielder back to his best. Foden has struggled over the past two years but has scored four goals in his past two games to give hope he can recapture the form that won him the a Professional Footballers’ Association players’ player of the year award in 2023-24.

City travel to Aston Villa on Saturday lunchtime aiming to continue their perfect Premier League start under Maresca, with Erling Haaland fit after sitting on the bench for Wednesday’s Champions League win over AEK Athens.

“Since we started I sat down with Phil two or three times, especially at the beginning,” said Maresca, who knew Foden from a spell as Pep Guardiola’s assistant. “Maybe love is not the right word to use but just to show him how important he is.

“I said many times that I know Phil from years ago so I know how good he is. For different reasons the last few years he was not good enough but again I think when you have more players like Phil available you are a better team because at the end it’s a matter of improving players. If you improve the players you improve the team, so for me it’s my duty to try to help Phil to be again one of the best players in England. But it’s not just about one game – the season is very long.”

Foden, 26, needs to remain consistent to keep his place in the team, with plenty of competition for the attacking roles, including from Rayan Cherki, who Maresca has described as “one of the best players in Europe”.

City’s only competitive defeat under Maresca came against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League, and they have seven straight wins in the Premier League to sit three points clear at the top. Maresca is waiting to find out whether Matheus Nunes, Mateo Kovacic and Nico O’Reilly are available after missing the AEK game. “The mood is good, we are happy with our start but we are still hungry for more wins,” Maresca said.